Page 31 of Snowbound Threat

“I’ll do it.” She tried not to think about it too much but got the saddle and took it to the other stall.

Rex always wanted to get out on the land, so she had him cinched up in no time. The horse turned his head and nipped at her shoulder.

She patted his neck and laughed. “I know. You’re happy.”

Maybe she was as well, and maybe she wasn’t.

This was entirely too much like a do-over of high school. Some deep wish to go out riding with Caleb Rourke that she had buried so far down she’d almost forgotten it existed. Dragging it backup was a dangerous business, one that would likely lead her to being home alone pining for him to come back. With Caleb off saving the world while she waited.

She should have met someone else by now. But it’d just never happened, and so she was left wondering if God’s plan was for Caleb to show up now and for something to happen between them.

More dangerous business.

The last thing she wanted was to get her heart broken. But here they were.

Caleb led the way down the west boundary of the Rourke land, close enough to her house that she could see the side of the barn. Tessa shivered looking at the property where she lived with her father.

“I’m sure Pops will go with you the first time you head home.”

She sighed. “I’ll need to get fresh clothes at some point. I don’t know why I’m so scared of it when there isn’t going to be anyone inside. I just…I look at it and it seems like a foreign thing I should stay away from.”

“It’s been invaded. Your dad was taken, and you saw those gunmen for yourself. It’s not something you’re going to let go of anytime soon I’m afraid. It might even keep you up at night.”

Kind of like lying in bed wondering where Caleb might be or how it was going finishing his case? Thinking about how sincere he sounded saying that, being kind. She was going to wish he was here to take her to the diner, or to the County Fair when they came to town.

She sighed. “Everything is upside down.”

And he wasn’t some fantasy of a guy she’d never found here in town. He was Caleb.

She needed to accept who he was, or those feelings she had for him would grow into something wrong. It wouldn’t be acceptance of the man God had made him to be.

She had to have that unconditional love of a woman for the man he was. Nothing else.

Or she would spend a lifetime trying to change him.

“What do you mean upside down?”

She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to rehash it like I’m in the middle of all this, or like any of it is about me. Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking? Maybe I can help you figure something out.” She shrugged, because it was unlikely she’d actually be able to help.

He said, “How about we don’t talk about that stuff at all? What if we just pretend you’re the girl next door and I’m the grandson of old Ian Rourke, here for the summer.”

She started to chuckle. “And here I was just thinking that I should accept you for who you are, not who I wished some guy might be that showed up and swept me off my feet.”

“Where’s the fun in that? Way too logical.” He glanced over, a smile opening his whole face. “I’m a scarred hero, back from war. Or a drifter. No, a movie stunt man.”

“If you get to be that I’m going to be a famous actress. Oh, better yet, an actress turned author. Everyone loves me. There was a disastrous relationship years ago, and naturally everyone took my side. Now I have a huge following.”

“Naturally. You are a media darling.”

“Only if it’s from back before social media that I built this fan club of people who love me. I feel like I’m a throwback sometimes. Like the world keeps moving and I’m still who I always was.”

Caleb shifted in the saddle and they crested a grassy hill from which the view of Ian Rourke’s land stretched out. The sun set pink and orange on the horizon. “I missed this.”

“But you weren’t the guy who stays here. You had a bigger job to do.”

“I am a drifter. It’s in my nature.”

She giggled. “I’m not sure if I prefer the soldier or the stunt man.”